Vaccaro's in Baltimore, MD

While in Baltimore, I decided to get some sort of dessert in Little Italy. I came across a bakery called Vaccaro's and decided to give them a try.

They had all sorts of pastries, cookies, cakes, and other desserts in here.

I had a chocolate and vanilla neapolitan. This flaky pastry was filled with alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate pudding.

I wasn't a fan of how it was served in the plastic clam shell container. The chocolate that topped the dessert stuck to the lid and sort of pulled the pastry apart when I went to open the container. This was tasty, although it was definitely more than I could eat in one serving.

I found out later that Vaccaro's was part of a larger chain. I came across a Vaccaro's in a strip mall in the suburbs of Baltimore and was also informed that there are a few of these in New York as well. I guess Vaccaro's wasn't the small, independent pastry shop in Little Italy that it initially appeared to be.

Uncle Lee's Szechuan China Room in Baltimore, MD

I did some visiting in the Baltimore area. While there, I parked in Little Italy and walked towards the Inner Harbor. I didn't want to actually eat in the Inner Harbor, so I headed a few blocks away and came across a Chinese restaurant located inside a large building that was formerly a bank. It seemed like the restaurant had a bit of an identity crisis since there were three different names outside the restaurant. The China Room was located on the side of the building. Uncle Lee's Szechuan Restaurant was on the awning out front. Finally, Uncle Lee's Harbor Restaurant was on the window above the door.

The inside of the restaurant was very impressive. I don't know if this building was something else between a bank and Chinese restaurant, but modern banks definitely aren't built this way. The interior was decorated with all sorts of ornate features. It didn't look very Chinese (except for the lantern globe lights that were added), but it was a very unique building to be eating lunch in.

I started with an appetizer of scallion pancakes. These are hard to find in Florida, so I decided to get these fried pancakes when I saw them on the menu.

A cup of wonton soup was served next. The dumplings were good although the broth could have used improvement. It was completely clear and basically tasted like warm water.

For my meal, I had one of the lunch specials called Baby Shrimp with Szechuan Rice Wine Sauce. A big plate of shrimp was served swimming in sauce. There were hardly any vegetables in here and was a bit boring. Although the menu noted that this was spicy, it hardly had any kick. Rice was served on the side which was very useful in soaking up the pool of sauce.

I found the food here to be a bit mediocre. The prices were also very affordable and the building was way cool. Can't win with everything...

Pizza Blitz in Pikesville, MD

Continuing with some more travel blogging, I had reached my destination of my road trip: The suburbs of Baltimore. While there, I did do some of the touristy stuff. I visited the National Aquarium for the first time (I think I'm jaded with sealife. I was disappointed) and wandered around the Inner Harbor.

After I checked that stuff off my list of places to see, I moved onto seeing the more obscure sights in the area. One of the places that I ended up was called Quarry Lake at Greenspring. Apparently this man-made, 500 foot deep lake is one of the deepest in the state. As the name implies, the giant hole in the ground was originally a stone quarry which was then filled with water. The surrounding land was used to build a shopping center, expensive condos, and a paved trail surrounding the lake. When I read about Quarry Lake, I actually didn't realize how built up the area was. I went for the trail to ride my unicycle, but I figured while I was there, I might as well get dinner too.

Food happened at a restaurant called Pizza Blitz. This pizzeria, serving mostly pizza-by-the-slice, was one of the few non-chain restaurants in the shopping center overlooking the lake.

I had a plain cheese slice and a white vegetable slice. Both were good, although the toppings on the vegetable slice were a bit sad looking once I inspected them up close. They basically consisted of chopped tomato and broccoli crumbs. Other than that, the slices were tasty. The crust was nice and thin. The cheese and sauce both had good flavor. Overall, these were good, NY style slices. Apparently the suburbs of Baltimore have good pizza...